The BJP on Wednesday won the crucial Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) zonal ward elections by defeating the AAP in a close contest with the former bagging the posts of chairman, deputy chairman of the zonal-level ward committees, and one member each for standing committee in seven of 12 zones.
The AAP managed to win five zones in the elections which took place amid heavy security arrangements. The Standing Committee of the MCD is considered the most powerful body in the civic body.
BJP bagged Narela, Civil Lines, Keshav Puram, Shahdara North, Najafgarh, Shahdara South, and Central Zones, while AAP won Karol Bagh, West, South, City SP and Rohini zones. Voting in Karol Bagh and City SP did not take place as BJP did not field a candidate, while in Keshav Puram, BJP’s was the sole candidate in fray. The elections were conducted smoothly under a heavy security.
With the win in the much awaited elections which is taking place after a delay of 18 months due to clashes between AAP and BJP. The BJP will be seen dominating the highest decision making body of the civic agency and MCD’s financial backbone - the standing committee. With the elections, the committee has nine councilors from the BJP and eight from AAP.
The standing committee is important for giving approval to proposals involving expenditures of `5 crore and above.
The all-important Standing Committee is made up of 18 members, 12 elected from each of the 12 zones and six directly elected by the House.
No project costing more than Rs 5 crore can proceed without the standing committee’s approval making the significance of the body important.
Pawan Shehrawat and Sugandha, the councillors who recently switched sides from the AAP to BJP, won the post of chairman for the ward committees from Narela and Central Zones respectively. The Civil Lines Zone saw a keen contest between the AAP and BJP with the saffron party winning all three posts by a margin of one vote each.
Further, Anil Kumar Tyagi defeated Ajeet Singh Yadav by polling 10 votes, while Rekha triumphed over her rival Gagan Chaudhary in a similar fashion. Former North Delhi mayor and BJP leader of opposition in MCD Raja Iqbal Singh defeated Promila Gupta of AAP by polling 10 votes as against nine by her.
In the Karol Bagh Zone, AAP councillor Rakesh Joshi was elected unopposed as chairman of the ward committee, while Jyoti Gautam and Ankush Narang bagged the posts of deputy chairman and member of the standing committee in absence of any BJP candidate.
AAP candidates Mohd Sadiq, Kiran Bala, and Punardeep Singh Sawhney were elected unopposed as chairman, deputy chairman of the ward committee, and member of the standing committee from City SP Zone in the absence of any candidates from the BJP. BJP candidates were elected unopposed from the Keshav Puram Zone.
In South Zone, cross voting led to a tie between the BJP and AAP. Through lottery, AAP won the zonal chairman post. The party’s candidates also won the posts of chairman and standing committee member.
In Rohini, AAP’s Suman Anil Rana won the president’s post by defeating her BJP rival. Dharam Rakshak and Daulat bagged the posts of deputy chairman and standing committee member after the BJP candidates withdrew nominations for the two posts. In the West Zone, the BJP candidates withdrew their nominations for the three posts.
The Shahdara North zone saw BJP candidates emerging victorious after defeating their Congress rivals. The voting for the ward committee polls in the zone went on for the longest time.
The Congress, which has nine councillors, had fielded candidates from the Shahdara North zone. The AAP candidates withdrew their nomination for the post of chairman and deputy chairman, while Congress candidate withdrew her nomination from the standing committee member.
Former East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat was elected as a standing committee member from Shahdara South Zone. The elections were carried out smoothly under a heavy security deployment.
Celebrating the win, Northwest BJP MP Yogendra Chandolia said, “If these elections had happened after the mayor elections, then too, the same results would have come. They (AAP) thought we wouldn’t get a majority in the standing committee and wanted to have all control. They tried their best to do so from 2022 till today.”
The result comes a day after Delhi lieutenant governor V K Saxena ordered the MCD commissioner to notify the appointment of deputy commissioners as presiding officers for the polls. The voting was held in two clusters of all MCD zones, held simultaneously with councillors of five zones casting their votes together, while the remaining zones will go to polls separately.
The long pending elections were held for the first time since the unification of the trifurcated MCD in 2022. Due to a political deadlock between the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP, the polls could not take place and the matter became sub judice. The elections are being held through secret ballot in accordance with the Delhi Municipal Corporation Regulations, 1958.
Police had beefed up security arrangements in and around the Civic Centre located in central Delhi ahead of the polls. A company of paramilitary personnel along with local police has been deployed at the spot.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “AAP Mayor Dr. Shelly Oberoi has lost all constitutional and moral right to continue as Mayor and she needs to be dismissed.”He accused her of continuing to head MCD despite the end of her tenure long back. “She tried her level best to stop the ward committees & standing committee members election and she has shown the true anarchic political upbringing,” he said. Sachdeva added that the victory of BJP in seven of the 12 ward committees and party’s getting majority 9 members out of the 17 members of standing committee has brought hopes of development works starting soon in the minds of Delhiites.
